Air-injector for steam -pum ps



(No Model.)

B. I. HOWARD. AIR INJECTOR FOR STEAM PUMPS.

Patented Aug. 2, 1887.

N. FLIERS, mlwmhu m hw, wiihmgkm. u. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDMUND I. HOlVARD, OF JAOKSONVILEE,'FLORIDA, ASSIGNORS OF ONE- HALF TOJ. A. CLOUD, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

AIR-INJECTOR FOR STEAM-PUMPS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 367,524, dated August2, 1887.

Application filed October 11, 1886. Serial No. 215,933. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDMUND l. HOWARD, a citizen of the United States,residingat J acksonville, in the county of Duval and State of Florida,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Air-Injectors forSteam-Pumps, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in air-injectors for steam-pumps;and it consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devicesthat will be more fully set forth hereinafter, and particularly pointedout in the claim.

The object of my invention is to provide an apparatus for continuallysupplying air to the air-chamber of a steam-pump while the latter is inoperation, and thus prevent the air in the airchamber from beingexhausted; and this object I attain by the construction here inafterdescribed, and illnstracted in the accompanying drawings, in which-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a steam-pump with myair-injector attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view ofthe air-injector.

A represents the cylinder of a steam-pump, such as are in use forforcing the water into reservoirs, and B represents the air-chamber.

0 represents avertical cylinder, which forms the body or main portion ofmy air-injector, and is provided at its lower end with a pipe, I), whichis connected to the cylinder of the steam-pump. This pipe D is providedwith a stop-cock, E, whereby communication may be established betweenthe cylinders A and G or cut off at will. On one side of the cylinder Ais located a watergage, F, of the usual con struction, comprising atransparent vertical glass tube, G, connected at its upper and lowerends with the cylinder by means of ferrules H, and thereby communicatingat both ends with the cylinder 0. The usual stop-cocks, I, are providedfor the water-gage, whereby communication between the glass tube and thecylinder may be cut off in the event that the glass tube shall break,and also to enable the glass tube to be blownthrough in order to clearit. The upper end of the cylinder 0 is provided with a conical cap, K.

with an upwardly openingcheck valve, M, the function of which is toadmit air to the cylinder and prevent the air from being dischargedtherefrom. From the upper end of the cap K extends a pipe, N, the upperend of which is connected to the air-chamber B of the steam-pump, nearthe lower end of the said air-chamber. This pipe is provided with astop-cock, O, to out off communication between the cylinder 0 and theair-chamber B, when desired.

1? represents a check valve, which is arranged in the pipe N immediatelyabove the cap K. The function of this cheek-valve is to permit air to beforced from the cylinder 0 into the air-chamber B, and to prevent theair from returning into the cylinder 0. y

The operation of my invention is as follows: At the drawing or suctionstroke of the pumppiston a vacuum is produced in the cylinder O to agreater or less extent, according to whether the stop-cock E is fullyopen or partly closed. As soon asthe vacuum is formed in the cylinder Othe check-valve M is opened by the external'pressure of the air, and theair rushes in through the pipe L and fills the cyl inder 0. On thereturn or forcing stroke of the pump-piston the cheek-valve M closes andwater is forced from the p u m p-cylinder through the pipe D into thelower portion of the cylinder 0, thereby compressing the air in the saidcyl-- inder and forcing it upwardly toward the check-valve P and throughthe pipe N into the air-chamber.

From the foregoing it is obvious that the air chamber will becontinuously supplied with air under pressure during the operation ofthe pump, and thus prevent water from being forced from thepump-cylinder into the air-chamber. By means of the stop cock E thequantity of air which is forced into the air-chamber may be regulated atwill.

It will be observed that the escape-pipe N communicates with the conicalcap K at the extreme upper end of the cylinder 0, and that the shape ofthe conical cap is such that all the air in the cylinder will be forcedtherefrom through the cap K and past the valve E into the pipe Nat eachforcing-stroke of the pumppiston, thus entirely exhausting the air fromthe cylinder.

I am aware that it has been heretofore proposed to provide a verticalcylinder with a stop cock for communication with a pumpbarrel, anair-inlet valve, and an outlet-valve for communicating with anair-chamber, and this, broadly, I disclaim. Such devices, however, havebeen heretofore provided with discharge-valve pipes extending from oneside of the cylinder at a point nearly but not quite at the upper endthereof. Such construction is disadvantageous, for the reason that itdoes not admit of all the air being discharged from the cylinder at eachforcing stroke of the pump-piston, but, on the'contrary, causes a smallportion of the air to be confined below the top of the cylinder andabove the inner end of the valved discharge-pipe. The air thus confinedin the upperend of the cylinder becomes heated and expanded by thepressure of the water in the cylinder, and will not pass to theair-chamber of the pump, thereby destroying, in a very great measure,the cfliciency of the apparatus. I remedy this defect by providing theconical eduction-cap K at the extreme upper end of the cylinder, and byconnecting the valved discharge-pipe N to the extreme upper end of thecap, thus facilitating the escape of the air from the cylinder, andpreventing any portion thereof, however apparently ineonsiderable, frombecoming confined and heated in the cylinder.

I have one of my improved air-injectors in successful operation onasteam-pump of large capacity in the city of Jacksonville, Florida, andhave demonstrated by actual test the truth of the foregoing statements.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- The air-injector for theairchambers of pumps, comprising the cylinder C, provided with the pipeD, to admit water under pressure from the pump cylinder, the conicaleduction-cap K at the extreme upper end of the cylinder, and the valvedpipe N, extending from the extreme upper end of the cap, to communicatewith the air chamber of the pump, and the air-inlet pipe L,communicating with the cylinder 0, below the apex of the eduction-cone,and having the check-valve M, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixedmy signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDMUND I. HOWARD.

\Vitnesses:

C. BUCKMAN, XV. L. BETIES.

